Thursday, 24 October 2013

The Town of eight hills

It is a town that we come
across when we go to Biligiri Ranga Hills (BR Hills) from Bangalore. It was believed to have been first
established by the Cholas. Therefore, it was then called Ilamaraduru Nadu in
ancient Tamil Scripts.

On their part, the Cholas
called it Cholendrasimha Chaturvedi Mangalam. Kannadigas called it Hadhinadu
Pranthya.

The town is also part of the
smallest taluk in the district in which it is located. It is surrounded by
eight hills of which Biligiri is the most famous.

The town boats of a couple of
historic and unique temples. There is a temple dedicated to Varaha, one of the Dashavatars
of Vishnu.

Varaha is the third avatar of
Vishnu and there is also a shrine of Ganapathi here at its south-west corner. This
Ganapathi is growing every year.

The other temple is that of
Gaurishvara.It a Vijayanagar style structure constructed around 1550 when Devabhupala
or Singadepa was the local ruler. It was subsequently rebuilt during 1654 -1655 by Muddabhupa, grandson of Devabhupala.

The temple has a unique entrance
called Bale Mantapa (Bangle entrance) which features some of the most exquisite
stone carvings on the walls and pillars. These carvings depict mythological
stories of the slaying of the demon Andhakasura, Lord Narasimha in different postures, Vali, Sugreeva and Krishna.

The carved stone chain rings
- 20 cm each- adorn the four corners and the door side of the entrance and
this gives it the name of Bale Mantapa. The entrance was built by Muddabhupa or
Mudduraja in 1654 (We can see similar stone chains in the temple in Talakadu).

During the Vijayanagar
Empire, this town and its surrounding areas were known for its riches. Till Independence, it was the jagir of a former Dewan of the MysoreKingdom.
After 1847, the Imam properties were abolished and taken over by the Government
and this town initially came under Mysore
district.

A few decades ago, it became
part of Chamarajanagar district. Today, it stands at the entrance to the busy
BR Hills Road. However, only a handful of the thousands of tourists, wildlife enthusiasts
and Nature lovers who throng to BR Hills give a second glance to this town.

Not many realise that they would
have missed a date with history by not spending time here. This is the town of Yelandur, which once was
the jagir of Dewan Purnaiah. The jagirship continued till 1947 when it was
abolished and the place integrated with the rest of the district.

Yelandur is surrounded by
eight hills: to the East rises the magnificent Shwetha Giri (Billigri), to the
South-East is Mallinatha Giri, to the South is Suragiri, to the South-West
Shankareshwara Giri, to the West Mallikarjuna Giri, to the North-West
Shambulingana Giri, to the North Srisaila Giri and to North-East Nirmala Giri.

All these hills are
accessible from this town which is an oasis of greenery. The town has produced
several great personalities such as Narashima Bhatta, the Ayurvedic expert (1790),
Sanchi Honnamma (1680) and Vishalaksha Pandit, the Jain Vidwan.

Yalandur is the smallest taluk
in Chamarajanaar district with just 33 villages. It is situated about
60 km south-west of Mysore and about
150 km south of Bangalore.

In history days, the town was
called Ramachndra Yelanbure. Later. it became
Yelandur. Today, it is known as the town surrounded by eight hills.

Allopathy or the modern system of medicine labels it calls it degenerative and often fatal disorder. It says there is no known effective ...

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